Backlight 2006

Directors: Sandra Gibson, Luis Recoder

2006, Doubled 16mm film projection performance, black/white, sound or silent, variable duration (approx. 15–20 minutes). “The function of the motion-picture screen is to display a world of fantasy and entertainment without the screen being obvious.” - From “Screen Masking, Surrounds, and Screen Draperies” in Motion-Picture Projection and Theatre Presentation Manual, ed. Don V. Kloepfel (5th edition, 1992) The point of departure for this projection performance is the obliteration, literally the blotting-out, of the cinematic object of projection. Projection performance as the art par excellence of obstructing, concealing, masking absolutely nothing but itself; in which the spectacle of the apparatus is to be screened, or better screened-out, in the negative relief of a self-cancellation vis-à-vis nothing but the disciplinary application of a cinematic standard.